Excessive data charges on Orange

Caryne

I suspect the person suggesting we are all 'too thick' works for Orange (or similar) so I'm not worrying about that post.

As I said, I was writing about my husband's phone not mine, it's been fine for over a year and his data usage has always been within the limit then, suddenly and for no reason that we can work out, it keeps 'updating' automatically and it has gone considerably over its data allowance for this month. It's not a question of not understanding just wondering why it might have suddenly happened and posting a message here to find out if anyone knows why this might be. I could well ring Orange but as I am sure most here know, that's a long drawn out process and doesn't always get you the level of Customer Service you might wish, hence me coming here first to see if anyone else can help.

Getoffmycloud

Caryne wrote: »

I suspect the person suggesting we are all 'too thick' works for Orange (or similar) so I'm not worrying about that post.

As I said, I was writing about my husband's phone not mine, it's been fine for over a year and his date usage has always been within the limit then, suddenly and for no reason that we can work out, it keeps 'updating' automatically and it has gone considerably over its data allowance for this month. It's not a question of not understanding just wondering why it might have suddenly happened and posting a message here to find out if anyone knows why this might be. I could well ring Orange but as I am sure most here know, that's a long drawn out process and doesn't always get you the level of Customer Service you might wish, hence me coming here first to see if anyone else can help.

This sounds like a similar problem to mine...... I have had my phone for a year with no problems whatsoever and then one month I had a phone bill for over £300! A few people have had the same problem since the ios6 update so I wonder if that might be the cause. Orange told me to restore my phone which I did with their help and it seems okay at the moment although that doesn't help with the charges I have already received. Orange haven't been particularly helpful to be honest as they are not willing or don't want to look into why this has happened even though I keep arguing about how unusual this is given my past bills and never even coming close to using half of my allowance let alone going over by so much.........

grumbler

visidigi wrote: »

which is fine in theory if the apps are released by Orange or Apple.

In most cases its third party apps that cause the data consumption. Now the majority of apps come with a warning when installed, yet the user still pleads ignorance.

It was very likely to be a known problem with upgrading to iOS 6 - that's why Apple was one of the main suspects.

Caryne

Getoffmycloud wrote: »

This sounds like a similar problem to mine...... I have had my phone for a year with no problems whatsoever and then one month I had a phone bill for over £300! A few people have had the same problem since the ios6 update so I wonder if that might be the cause. Orange told me to restore my phone which I did with their help and it seems okay at the moment although that doesn't help with the charges I have already received. Orange haven't been particularly helpful to be honest as they are not willing or don't want to look into why this has happened even though I keep arguing about how unusual this is given my past bills and never even coming close to using half of my allowance let alone going over by so much.........

It does sound like a similar probem but my husband's phone is a Sony Ericsson one not an iphone. Over the last few weeks he keeps getting messages about updates and they seem to be taking the data even though he has never agreed to receiving them.

utero

Tony5101 wrote: »

You're not using the Deezer app. as a swappable are you?
If you are, they're aware of a problem with that app. whereby the usage is coming out of your allowance rather than it not etc.

I've been overcharged for the past few months with Deezer usage which should be free. Getting a bit annoyed at having to contact them everytime, their suggestion?

"Stop using it until we come up with a solution" :rotfl::mad:

Tony5101

I would say that that would be a perfect opportunity to raise the stakes and ask them to cancel the contract.
I wonder if the tune will change from then on!
This 'Deezer' situation (IMO) is different from the normal 'been overcharged blah blah', as there is something very wrong with their systems etc...

davecooper71

I have had the same problems, and i found orange to be very unhelpful

NFH

My data usage is usually around 200MB to 400MB per month, but one month my Orange bill showed that I had used 916MB when my iPhone 4 had recorded that I had used only 404.5MB (370MB downloaded and 34.5MB uploaded). Orange's customer service system showed that I had downloaded large quantities of data during short daytime periods on two days in the billing month, which if true would have severely drained my battery, but it hadn't done so because I didn't use the data. Also there's no way that my iPhone could have physically downloaded the alleged high quantity of data in the short periods stated because Orange's network was too slow at that time. I was just within the 1GB fair usage allowance so there was fortunately no cost or other implication. Nevertheless I asked Orange to investigate several times and made sure that copious notes were made on my account in case the same thing should happen in future more excessively or when I'm roaming, but they failed to investigate. Unfortunately many other customers end up significantly out of pocket when the same thing happens; I was one of the lucky ones. I'm sure Orange know all about these data billing errors but won't admit it.

wantmemoney

about ten years ago the Government auctioned spectrum off and raised £22.4Bn.
Many warned the price the Networks had paid was far too high and the existing market would not be able to generate the revenue to repay this investment.

The cost of those licences were passed on to the consumer:-

Despite EU warnings the price to the UK consumers for making calls were unfairly being calculated on the auction costs that the Networks had paid.

Despite the Government promise of a 'free market' where consumer choice would 'regulate' and drive down prices the Networks were allowed to introduce onerous contracts with expensive penalties for early terminations.

In addition to the pricing and contract issues, complaints concerning billing disputes rocketed. These were mainly mysterious charges for Premium Rate Services that were appearing on customers bills.
Thanks to lobbying and successive Government 'deregulation' there was no independent(of the market place) consumer protection group where these billing complaints could be taken.

2013 4G Auctions:-

Next year the Government intend auctioning the 4G spectrum to the highest bidders but what will that mean to the consumer?

http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/ofcom-announces-uk-4g-auction-bidders-20-12-2012/
Ofcom Announces UK 4G Auction Bidders
20th December 2012

Everything Everywhere (EE), which has already been permitted to launch the UK’s first 4G service using existing bandwidth and did so on 30 October

PCCW, a major Hong Kong telecoms conglomerate, operating through its subsidiary HKT

Hutchison Whampoa, another Hong Kong conglomerate and operator of the 3 network

MLL Telecom, a telecom network supplier founded in 1992 and based in Marlow, Buckinghamshire

BT, via its subsidiary “Niche Spectrum Ventures”

Telefonica, the Spanish incumbent telecoms company that owns the O2 network

Vodafone

The 4G LTE auction is expected to raise around £3.5 billion, and the first 4G LTE services from these auctions are expect to launch in the first half of 2013.

I believe Orange is part of EE.

Is there a genuine technical problem with Orange data billing or are they simply taking advantage of the lack of effective consumer protection and customer confusion?